


Exiles of the New Republic

by Dreamvisitor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Exile, Ficlet, Fix-It, M/M, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, lothcats
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamvisitor/pseuds/Dreamvisitor
Summary: They saw a glimpse of the Light, but it was much too late for the both of them. No one else will have them, for they've caused too much pain across the galaxy. So they must flee and live in exile for the rest of their days.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	1. Runaways

“Run away, Ben.” Rey said. “I’ll tell them you died helping me kill Palpatine.”

His brain could hardly process her words. Just a few moments ago, they were both practically dead, but by some miracle of the force they were instead barely alive. It was better than death, he guessed.

“I—“

Rey cut him off before he could say anything else.

“I just— I think it’s what’s best, at least for now.” She explained. “They wouldn’t welcome you back with open arms.”

As much as he wanted to say that she was wrong, that now he was set towards the path of the light side, he could not say that and believe it to be true. He had done so much wrong, caused so much pain. And the only people who could have ever had him back were dead now. His family, his mother.

It hurt him deeply to know she was right. Even if he wanted to walk away from a life of hatred and anger, it was not that easy.

“Yes, I should.” He said, even though he wanted to yell a million things. “I don’t think I can ever come back, so this is goodbye forever.”

He could see in her eyes her urgency to go back to help her actual friends, so he didn’t hold her back any longer.

“Goodbye, Ben.”

And that was the last he ever saw of Rey.

Stealing a ship was easy in the midst of battle, no one noticed him fleeing with all the chaos and confusion.

The difficult part was knowing where to go next, if he ever found a planet far enough from all his crimes. The Unknown Regions sounded like a good place to start. And if not, there was always the option of trying to find a planet suitable for life in Wild Space.

In the eyes of the galaxy, he was officially dead.

At least, now he could say Kylo Ren had finally died.

* * *

General Hux wasn’t planning on getting a chestful of blaster that day.

Could he even call himself a general now? Probably no.

Thank the stars that he was smart enough to wear subtle armor under his uniform to avoid these unfortunate kinds of deaths. Though apparently it was not enough to avoid being knocked unconscious on impact.

He should be even more grateful that they did not throw his body down the trash compactor as soon as the medical droid got to him.

Hux was so tired of this; of the First Order, of the Resistance. But no matter how tired he was or how much pain he felt, his first priority right now was getting the hell out of the destroyer. His second encounter with a blaster was bound to not be as lucky as the first one.

He pulled himself up and out of the medical bay with what little strength he had, the medical droid was not hard to fool.

How long had he been unconscious? He could hear yelling in the distance. Maybe the Resistance was attacking them. That would mean that at least he didn’t get shot on the leg and the chest for nothing.

If all units were busy dealing with the Resistance, this was the best chance he had to flee.

Hux kept mentally reprimanding himself for being so slow on his way to the hangar.

 _“They will shoot you on sight, idiot, run for your life.”_ His inner voice protested.

All his wounded leg allowed was power walking for his life, which eventually took him to one of the confiscated enemy ships that the pilots weren’t using.

His piloting skills were nowhere near perfect, but they were enough to fly a ship as far from the First Order as the fuel allowed.

There was a huge fight going on, he could tell that much. Hux had no time to pay attention to that; he needed to fly as deep into the Unknown Regions as possible. If Ren had been informed of his betrayal, he would surely knock his ship off the sky with those damned force tricks as soon as he even sensed him.

The noise of the battle faded away. He felt safer, even if just for one second, but he needed to keep moving forward.

All he ever knew was the First Order, what was he going to do now once he was far enough from them?

Even though he had spied for the Resistance, he had no desire to join them. Besides, staying with them would still be too dangerous for his own life.

Perhaps he could adopt a lothcat, find some lesser job that gave him enough to survive. He’d have to lie low until the Resistance wiped out the First Order.

He activated the hyperspace jump.

Or until he died.


	2. Reunion

Millicent is an excellent lothcat.

She hisses at thieves and people who stare at Hux’s face for too long. And when he’s curled up in his bed at night questioning his very existence, she comes purring and demanding that he pet her and give her his full attention.

How long had he been in this no good planet? Long enough to grow a semblance of a beard, which was surprising considering that his genes barely let him grow a five o´clock shadow. He didn’t like it, but the less he looked like when he was with the First Order, the better.

He spends his days helping to load and unload cargo from smuggler ships, a job he hates. They boss him around and treat him like he’s nothing, but he has to hold back his harsh words and keep pretending he’s nothing to protect his own life.

And on this fine day, he didn’t even get payed. Sure, the pay wasn’t much, but he needed every last credit he could get his hands on.

“Take these couple of jogan fruit crates instead, bet you can sell them for a good price, and if not well there’s your dinner.” The smuggler had said, laughing as they hopped back onto their ship and flew away.

Hux spat all sorts of curses, but none of them reached the smuggler’s ears. Millicent nuzzled his boots, purring like an engine and making the day a little better. 

“Next time that one shows up, you should leave a hairball on his ship.” He told Millicent as he reached down to scratch her favorite spot behind her ears.

* * *

Hux proved to be quite resourceful. He managed to put up a makeshift stand to sell the fruit. Not the prettiest looking one, but if he was lucky it would be enough to get rid of the jogan by the end of the day.

Of course, the second one of the crates was empty Millicent jumped in it and claimed it as her fortress. He sighed and wished he could be as happy as her with such simple things.

Sometimes he still missed the First Order, even if he knew that if he had decided to stay he would be a dead man already. He couldn’t help it; it was all he’d known since he was a child. Sure, it wasn’t the best upbringing, but at least he was someone.

As he was reminiscing his time in the First Order, Kylo Ren inevitably crossed his thoughts and made him wince. That was something he didn’t have to worry about anymore, but he still thought about him more times than he liked to admit.

That’s when he _felt_ it.

His eyes shot wide open and he almost knocked over the fruit he had left. No, this wasn’t happening. He was just being paranoid. He wasn’t really feeling Kylo Ren’s presence. Yes, it must be because he’d just been thinking about him, Hux definitely wasn’t sensing Kylo Ren getting closer to his little stand.

Hux couldn’t help but to look around anxiously. The street was too crowded to easily tell apart each person, and he wasn’t about to stand up and keep looking just to let people steal from him. He covered his head as much as he could with the hood of his clothes, hoping to hide all of his ginger hair.

_Don’t be ridiculous, he’s not alive. They killed him._ He told himself. Hux turned his head away from the crowd just long enough to pet his lothcat to calm down. When he looked again, Kylo Ren was standing right in front of him.

“You’re dead.” Was the first thing Hux said to him. He instinctively placed a hand over where his blaster was hidden, but Kylo didn’t even bat an eyelash at it.

“Kylo Ren is, yes.”

If it weren’t for the fact that he feared Kylo would choke him to death if he took his eyes off him for even one second, Hux would have rolled his eyes so far up his head they’d turned white.

“Changing names doesn’t erase your entire backstory, _Ren._ ” He said, with special emphasis on his name. If it were that easy, maybe he’d done it ages ago too.

Hux’s mind was trying come up with as many escape routes as possible to get away from Kylo Ren now.

Kylo hesitated, he looked as if he knew this but didn’t want to admit it. He was about to say something when Millicent hissed at him from one of the empty crates. Hux’s whole body tensed thinking Kylo would strangle his cat right there because, like everyone else, she didn’t seem to like him.

Instead, Kylo just leaned in to take a closer look at her.

“That’s my cat.” He said as soon as he noticed Kylo looking at her. “Careful, don’t use your tricks on her.” He warned, menacingly pointing at him with his walking stick.

“Since when do you have pets?” Kylo asked, he sounded more confused than angry at the whole situation.

Hux could see that he had the look most children, and some adults, in the streets gave Millicent when they saw her. A look that said _“Can I please pet your lothcat?”_ , which usually resulted in those kids getting scratched by her because they reached to touch her anyway.

“That’s none of your concern.” He answered. “But if anything were to happen to her, I would kill everyone in this marketplace and then myself.” Hux added, dead serious.

Perhaps those words were too harsh, considering how easily angered Kylo was. But he felt really attached to this lothcat, it was ridiculous.

“She looks like she has your temper.”

Why was he talking to him to casually? Like they were pals instead of old rivals. He didn’t like it one bit.

“Cut the small talk, Ren.” Hux said, his anger seeping trough is tone. “You’re here to kill me, do it already.”

“Why would I be here for you?” He said, and he sounded so honest that Hux was unable to find any hints of deceit in his voice.

Those words felt like he’d been shot on the stomach again. He’d spent so much time trying to be better than him, smarter than him, prove that he could defeat him. And it seemed as if Kylo Ren didn’t care about his existence or all those years of rivalry anymore.

They stood there in silence for a moment, until Hux found his voice again.

“Then leave.”

“I heard you betrayed the First Order.” He said instead of leaving him alone.

Why did he sound… hopeful? His words should be filled with disgust, not as if he viewed his betrayal as a good thing. If he’d been there when they found out he was as spy, wouldn’t he have fired the blaster himself? Or stabbed him through the gut with his own lightsaber? He still didn’t buy any of that nonsense he’d heard of Kylo Ren turning to the “light side” in his final moments. Now that he found he wasn’t even really dead, it was harder to believe.

“And it seems that the Resistance didn’t hold up their end of the bargain.”

That damned Resistance scum. He thought they killed Kylo Ren, that’s what they told they entire galaxy. It seemed that even the self proclaimed good guys were a bunch of liars when they needed to.

“Why didn’t you go with them?” Kylo asked.

“I didn’t do it for the Resistance, I did it so they’d get rid of you.” He answered.

“Still fueled by spite.”

“Just like you.”

As if he hadn’t spent his entire time in the First Order trying to get rid of his uncle because he didn’t like him, or constantly trying to one up him in front of Snoke. If he really wanted Hux to believe that he was now a changed man, he had a lot of proving to do before Hux stopped seeing him as the anger filled man he knew in the First Order.

_No, he doesn’t need to prove anything. Because I don’t need to see him again._ He scolded himself.

He was so focused on keeping an eye on Kylo that he didn’t notice Millicent was quietly approaching him to sniff his leg and judge Kylo Ren herself. Hux put the tip of his walking stick between her and Kylo, and gently shoved the lothcat away from him.

“Millie, no.”

She meowed in protest, but Hux didn’t let him get close to Kylo again. He looked up at him again, and his expression looked very amused. Hux guessed he was thinking that the name was ridiculous, but at least he didn’t name her Darth Vader like he guessed Kylo would have done if he had been the one to find her.

“If you’re not going to buy anything, you should leave, there are other customers waiting.” Hux lied.

There was no one else trying to buy fruit. Everyone was probably too intimidated by the tension between the two to even try. But he was tired of the conversation and he needed time to process the fact that he was alive and what to do next.

“I’ll see you around.” He said, and then he left as swiftly as he’d come.

“As if I’m staying in this planet now that I know you’re alive and here.” He muttered to himself once he was alone with Millicent.

Sure, this planet wasn’t idyllic, but it was better than having to start from scratch yet again. Why did he have to leave? He shouldn’t give Ren that satisfaction. If he was a better man now, or light side or whatever he wanted to call it, he wouldn’t try to kill him in his sleep. And if he did try, Hux always slept with his blaster beside him.

Now the thought of seeing him again made him feel something that wasn’t pure anger or fear for his life. Was it the thought of proving that he was better than him like in the old days? Or was he just happy to see a familiar face after being all alone since he fled the First Order? No, it was definitely the former.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She
> 
>   
> 


End file.
